Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
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In Reply to: Which component should I change first? posted by DualJon on February 28, 2006 at 12:19:41:
Assuming you have all the set-up tools that are required for decent vinyl playback - i.e., an alignment protractor and a stylus force scale, and know how to use them, the first purchase I'd recommend to you is a good record cleaning machine and solution. Its amazing what a good RCM can do for your sound! The improvement here is complemented by (and exceeded by) proper turntable/tonearm/cartridge set-up.After you really, really know how to align a cartridge and the affects of adjusting VTA/VTF/antiskate (if the Dual allows it), the next thing is to determine the condition of your cartridge and its stylus. I don't know Shure cartridges, but based on your statement about "1980" if your Shure has not had its stylus replaced (or isn't NOS) you had better get a new cartridge.
After that, I'd recommend a phono preamp. You can run it into the aux input on the Marantz. I've found that a good external phono preamp can make a huge improvement in the dynamics of music. And since you enjoy rock (as I do), it would be a good investment.
A better choice if your funds are sufficient would be to purchase an integrated amp with a decent phono stage rather than a separate external phono preamp. That way you'd be upgrading your all of your amplification.
Have fun!
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Follow Ups
- How old is your cartridge? How many LPs has it gone through? - Terry P 02/28/0612:47:46 02/28/06 (2)
- Re: How old is your cartridge? How many LPs has it gone through? - DualJon 12:57:52 02/28/06 (1)
- Re: How old is your cartridge? How many LPs has it gone through? - Crazy Dave 13:32:41 02/28/06 (0)